Taliban kills Polish oil worker

Taliban militants in troubled northwestern Pakistan claimed Saturday that a Polish oil worker held by them for the last 18 weeks has been killed. A Taliban spokesman who identified himself as Mohammad told various media organisations over the phone that Peter Stanczak was executed after the expiry of a Feb 6 deadline given to Pakistani and Polish governments to fulfil the militants’ demands.

Both governments did not seem interested in the release of the captive, added Mohammad, who represents the Taliban in the country’s tribal district of Darra Adam Khel.

Gunmen ambushed Stanczak’s vehicle in Attock district, about 85 km from the capital Islamabad, Sep 28. They killed his driver and two guards before snatching the man.

Fakhr Sultan, a district police officer in Attock, said he had no information about the execution of Stanczak, nor any clue that the Taliban had set some demands for his release.

A spokesman for Pakistan’s interior ministry was not available for comments.

Stanczak worked for Poland-based Geofizyka Krakow Limited, which is exploring natural resource reservoirs in the region.

In October, militants released a video in which Stanczak asked the government to release some Taliban fighters from custody.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Jacek Najder had told reporters Thursday that the ultimatum delivered to the Pakistani government by Stanczak’s captors has been extended. He did not say anything about the kidnapper’s demands.

The Taliban have intensified attacks on foreign diplomats and aid workers in recent months to avenge military operations against them.

Last Monday, unknown gunmen kidnapped the local head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan.